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By DE Editors

March 12, 2019

Tech Soft 3D has released HOOPS Publish 2019, the toolkit for enabling applications to publish 3D data in multiple formats including native 3D PDF, HTML and several standard CAD formats, including STEP AP 242, JT and 3MF. HOOPS Publish 2019 now enables the conversion of 3D PDF documents into HTML documents for consumption on any device and any platform, while maintaining all the PDF’s features and functionalities.

“The world has gone mobile and one of the biggest needs we find with our partners is the need to be able to consume 3D data on a mobile platform,” says Lionel Vieilly, HOOPS Publish product manager at Tech Soft 3D. “HOOPS Publish 2019 pushes the boundaries of making 3D PDFs with rich 3D data, product and manufacturing information (PMI), metadata, and other information available on any mobile platform via HTML.”

HOOPS Publish can be used to create rich engineering documents by combining CAD geometry from standard CAD formats like IFC, IGES, JT, SAT, STEP, XT, PRC, STL, VRML, and U3D with PMI, annotations, views and metadata. These files can be used to deliver a fully annotated model for drawing-less manufacturing, a coordinate measuring machine (CMM) report or a file ready for 3D printing.

With HOOPS Publish 2019, viewing and interacting with these rich 3D documents via mobile devices became easier because HOOPS Publish enables an application to convert a 3D PDF into an HTML document that makes it possible to consume the same data in a browser, with the same interactivity and behavior as the original PDF. In addition, new functions enable the creation of a preview image of a PDF document. The image resolution can be specified, and preview images are generated at the same time as the PDF. These preview images can be used as thumbnails in a repository system helping to identify and select the document (PDF) to be accessed.

Publishing to ISO standard file formats improves file interoperability and communication inside the engineering department, but also throughout the product development process whether it is for export to 3MF for 3D printing for prototyping or supporting engineering review, change orders, inspection plans, reporting, creating work instructions, or archiving.

HOOPS Publish is being used to convert CAD data into 3D PDF files, including Aras, SolidWorks, Actify, Theorem Solutions, PROSTEP, Tetra4D and more.